Over the cliff we go

The House of Representatives prepared to recess late Monday without voting on a tax measure, guaranteeing the nation would go over the much-feared fiscal cliff.

The Senate nevertheless remained in session to possibly vote on a deal that reportedly would wipe away Bush-era tax cuts for those earning over $400,000 individually and $450,000 for couples filing jointly. The proposal would preserve the Bush cuts for the 98 percent or more of taxpayers who earn less than those amounts.

President Barack Obama and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., both said Monday that in addition to striking a deal on taxes, they were negotiating a way to avoid the midnight deadline for the $109-billion “sequestration,’’ $109 billion in automatic spending reductions that would impact defense and domestic programs as of Wednesday.

On New Year’s Eve, a day in which the halls of Congress typically are abandoned, lawmakers of both parties scrambled to get a deal done while seeking maximum political advantage _ or at least doing their utmost to soften political damage.

Obama said, “One thing we can count on with respect to this Congress is if there’s even one second left before you have to do what you’re supposed to do, they will use that last second.”

“I’ve been up and down on the prospects for a deal literally all day,’’ Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in an interview. “I’m here for the duration. We’re still hoping something can be done.’’

A “dealbreaker,’’ Blumenthal said, “would be anything that cuts Social Security benefits, but it looks like that’s off the table for the time being. I need to see what the whole package looks like.’’

The back-and-forth negotiations behind closed doors illustrated the long reach of electoral politics almost two months after the 2012 elections appeared to endorse President Obama’s “balanced approach’’ of new revenues through tax hikes on the wealthy, combined with spending reductions favored by Republicans.

Norman Ornstein, veteran political scientist with the American Enterprise Institute, attributed the lion’s share of political gamesmanship to Republicans who, election results notwithstanding, are trying to avoid a vote for tax increases.

“This is crazy,’’ he said. “Even a fairly decisive election didn’t cure the dysfunction or the tribalism. It’s become clear late in the game that House Speaker John Boehner is a prisoner of his own Republican House caucus.’’

Ornstein added: “ What we have here is the radical right wing of the Republican Party wagging the whole elephant.’’

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virgnia’s Center for Politics, said House Republicans may see an advantage in voting on the tax package in the new year _ after the nation has gone off the fiscal cliff _ so that they could claim they voted for tax reductions, not tax hikes.

For Republicans who fear 2014 primary challenges from Tea Party candidates who charge them with raising taxes, a vote in early 2013 may be their last and best hope of solving the the fiscal cliff with minimum political fallout.

“It’s ridiculous, but that’s politics,’’ Sabato said. “The politics of waiting a day or two in this instance are tremendous.’’

McConnell himself is running for reelection in 2014. This is the same Mitch McConnell who was defeated by Tea Party Republicans in his own state when he sought to deny the 2010 Kentucky Republican Senate nomination to Rand Paul.

Paul won and now McConnell appears to be nervous about anything that raises taxes. He has hired Paul’s consultants to make sure he doesn’t face a challenge from a Tea Party type.

Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif., blamed the Tea Party for “hijacking” the House.

He said Nancy Pelosi as Speaker managed to pass the TARP bank rescue for a Republican Bush administration, even though her Democrats were furious.

“She did it and when the vote was counted, there were more Democrats that voted for it than Republicans,” Farr recalled. “Here we are, Boehner’s now the Speaker, and he can’t bring a bill to the floor. He won’t talk to the minority leader (Pelosi), telling her how many votes he needs, which is usually what happens. That’s been part of problem. It’s just a lack of leadership on the Republican side to live up to the responsibilities of the institution.”